15 Fragments of Hyuuga Hanabi
by clockwork starlight
Summary: Being a kunoichi is being more than part of someone else's story.


ZOMG I tried to keep Hanabi canon! ie there was none... LESS of the usual insertion of my self into her character. If _I_ were Kishimoto, _I _would go into her more. Obviously I'm not, so whatever.

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15 Fragments of Hyuuga Hanabi

Blood:

The House of Hyuuga is a hundred shades of grey and polished wood. The color of pride is the red, red blood that drips slowly to the floor. Hanabi does not look away from her sister.

Hair:

Hanabi is seven; precocious and perfect. But even at seven, no one but her mother is allowed to groom her. The family believes it's just a phase. The family believes the lock of hair that drifts across her face is the only unmanageable thing about her.

Knee:

People don't explain things to her. They talk around her and over her, and sometimes about her, but no one takes the time to talk _to_ her. So she doesn't ask questions; doesn't ask why her father sighs, why her cousin clenches his fists until he bleeds, why Hinata _won't_ do anything when they spar, but has a little jar of cream out in two seconds when Hanabi scrapes her knee in the garden. Everyone says she'll understand when she's older.

Head:

When her family looks at her, Hanabi doesn't know for certain whether those empty white eyes are looking at her, or the blank space on her forehead.

Feet:

Leaving the compound isn't exactly _forbidden_; she's just not supposed to do it. But when her restless seven year old feet take her to the edge of the garden wall and then over it, she doesn't try to stop them. It's not her fault if no one notices.

Wrists:

For a while she tried to give her cousin surprise haircuts. She claimed it was _shinobi_ practice, scissors hidden up her sleeve, wrists innocently crossed in front of her. Neji was reminded all _ninja_ are paranoid, some more so than others, some with more reason than others.

Nose:

Everyone says she looks like her father. Everyone says Hinata looks like his wife. She is secretly delighted when she overhears one of her aunties saying that Hanabi has her mother's nose.

Ankle:

The first time her class goes to the training grounds, Hanabi lets the others wear themselves out attacking the logs. She takes off her shoes and revels in the feel of being ankle-deep in wild grass.

Eyes:

No one tells her anything. When she asks about the dirty ragged picture she found behind a bookshelf; two copies of her father side by side, looking_ happy_; no one will meet her eyes.

Back:

She listens carefully at the funeral of the Third _Hokage_. She hears the words and reads the bodies and watches the faces; and so she bows as low as she can, until the uncovered sun heats the plane of her back. She decides, as she faces the memories etched in stone, to become a great _ninja_.

Shoulder:

She rolls her shoulder, joints cracking audibly, and smirks. The three boys look distinctly uncomfortable now, but they did start it, so they don't back down. She pokes them each once, and casually walks off. She is half way to the corner and they're trying to figure out if they should stop her when the nausea kicks in.

Fingers:

She begins to understand what being a _ninja_ is when she has to break all the bones in a dead man's fingers to get to the scroll he had been preparing for the hawk.

Elbow:

She doesn't learn despite how many times he tells her. Not until Neji forces her elbow higher and commands her to continue though the _kata_ like _this_, does she make full use of her strength.

Lips:

She is twelve, and she likes_ wagashi_. Konohamaru tells her that's why she'll never get taller as she wipes _anko_ paste from her lips, and no one knows any better to disagree. They're all equal as _genin_ though, so no one helps him either when he inevitably gets a faceful of powdered sugar. 

Hands:

Hanabi is small… and explosive, like her namesake. Her little hands fly through seals too quickly for even her father to follow now. And she's volatile, like her namesake. Quick-tempered where her sister was compassionate, the Firecracker is very much a danger to herself and others. Mostly others though.


End file.
